The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A derrick cable is traditionally used to raise and lower a lifting hook. A lifting hook is often present on a travelling block that is part of a block and tackle arrangement on the derrick. The travelling block may be suspended below a crown block via a plurality of outgoing and returning portions of the derrick cable that is reeved through the traveling and crown blocks. Due to this reeving arrangement, in order to raise and lower the hook at a given speed, the derrick cable must spool on and off a drum at a much higher speed. In some cases, the derrick cable may be spooled on and off the drum at speeds of about 50 to 60 mph. This fast moving line may often have a tendency to sway, wave, or whip laterally relative to the longitudinal motion of the line.
A stabilizer may be positioned on the line, may be suspended from above, and may be positioned laterally by a triangle cabling setup. The triangle cabling may allow the stabilizer and line to move to the left and right along the axis of a winch drum as the cable is spooled on and off the drum. The stabilizer may provide a damping effect on the side-to-side swinging of the derrick cable. However, traditional stabilizers are cumbersome and have many parts often including plates and supported wheels with axles, bearings, and the like. Some stabilizers are known to have 77 different parts and are prone to losing or dropping the parts while in use. The objects may easily become projectiles as they are flung in any direction at very high speeds. Still further, such failures may occur without warning. This can be dangerous for crews and can damage equipment.